Posts for ruben amaro

Mine: Trading Cliff Lee FOR NO GODDAMN REASON before the 2010 season because he was married to some misguided principle that they couldn’t, in good conscience, give up middling prospects for Roy Halladay without recouping some middling prospects by trading Lee. Idiot.

It’s been just about a month since Maikel Franco suffered a non-broken broken wrist when he took a fastball to his hand and fell to the ground in pain. The Phillies have 22 games remaining in their season, and they want to bring Franco back before this year’s finale. That’s stupid.

The Phillies are 22-40 (.355 winning percentage) in the 62 games they’ve played without Franco (before he was called up from Triple A on May 15, and after he was hurt). With Franco healthy and available, the Phillies are 32-46 (.410 winning percentage).

The Phillies are averaging 3.52 runs per game without Franco and 4.09 runs per game with him. The National League average for runs per game is 4.13.

Still below average, but obviously better. However, it doesn’t matter. This team isn’t going to win anything other than the futility award for the worst team in baseball. They’re already been eliminated from playoff contention. And Franco is perhaps your best shot at a superstar currently on your roster, so why rush him? Why put him back into meaningless baseball games with a wrist that, while pain-free, might still be susceptible to re-injury (cough cough Joel Embiid cough). The return of Franco isn’t going to fill the stands are the scorecard, so just hold him out until next season, when he probably won’t be playing for anything either, but we can pretend he is for about half the season.

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A shaky-voiced Cole Hamels took to the podium at Citizens Bank Park to say goodbye to the fans, the Phillies, and the media. He thanked the city for being an amazing place to play, for being a great city to raise his family in, and talked about feeling like a Philadelphian:

“In that parade, at lot of us are not from Philly … but I think we really grasped that when we got to take that parade down Broad Street.”

Hamels continued, saying that “not everybody can do it as long as Jamie Moyer,” but he has every intention of pitching for a long time. Hamels came just shy of admitting that he said no to whatever deal the Houston Astros offered, but said he and his wife sat down and went through pages of criteria to see what the best baseball and life options were.

Playing here was “worth everything,” Hamels said. “It gives you a way to fight even harder … to hear the cheers, and you understand the boos.” Moving on, he said having family and friends in Dallas helped make the decision easier. Hang on, there’s something in my eye.

“Being able to [throw a no-hitter] in a Phillies uniform means an immense amount,” Hamels said. “I’ll always have that jersey in my house.” It had to happen – Marcus – but that doesn’t mean it stings any less. We’ll miss you, Cole.

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When the Cole Hamels trade became unofficially official on Wednesday night, Jake Diekman had been added to the Rangers’ haul. Hamels isn’t going to pitch for the Phillies again. Neither is Diekman. But since the trade isn’t 100% official yet – the particulars are being hammered out – both Hamels and Diekman had lockers at Citizens Bank Park set up tonight. The weird thing is, Diekman was there, got dressed, warmed up in the outfield, and took his place in the bullpen. And then he left. And then he went back. It was incredibly awkward. Diekman himself doesn’t seem to really know what’s going on:

We all had a nice laugh at the Mets for their awkward trade-then-no-trade situation, but couldn’t someone have told Diekman it was totally cool if he wanted to stay home? Hamels didn’t have to be there. And yea, Diekman isn’t Hamels, but he’s still a man. With feelings. And it was all very, very awkward.